Give Thanks 2010

Thanksgiving this year was a day filled with some traditional, some non-traditional and good times with family and friends.

The morning started off with these homemade babies:

Which were a terrible traveling-breakfast idea actually! We were meeting the Gourley's at the St. Louis Downtown Thanksgiving Day Parade (an annual tradition since last year), and Shanna was bringing the savory and me the sweet. These were quite difficult to eat standing on a sidewalk though! 

The morning was a wet and cold one, but we stuck to our plans and met on the corner as planned. The kids were bundled and Aidan was in his element, but Noah and Reese weren't the happiest campers.

Reese just wasn't feeling 100%, and Noah was afraid of some of the floats. Matt is comforting him in this one, while Daryl cracks up.

We got in some good family pics.

And then Noah decided perhaps the parade wasn't so bad after all, once candy started being handed out!

The Gourley's had to head out in order to prepare for their lunch, but we stuck around to see Santa. It started raining harder so we found an awning to stand under. Santa finally came, and we were out of there.

We got back home in time for Nana and Papa to arrive. We relaxed and did some non-traditional cooking, since we had just had the big Thanksgiving meal the weekend before down at the lake with Brian and Janet, the boys and Nana and Papa. I thought I'd try a few new sides with just a turkey breast. WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! I mean the food tasted just fine, but it just wasn't Thanksgiving! I was so disappointed at my choice to do non-traditional. Who cares if we had just had it! Thanksgiving only comes once a year!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the afternoon with Nana and Papa (so Deb if you have any, please send them to me!).

After a nice, low key afternoon we met up with the Gourley's again at The Chase to see Tangled. I think this may be my most favoirte picture of the entire year!

This was a 3D movie, so glasses were imperitive. Noah loves his and still wears them to this day! This picture is so perfect of our little ones and their personalities. LOVE IT!

Shanna bought the kids popcorn, and they all sat ready for the movie...which was really cute by the way! The last picture isn't the best quality, but proves that Nana and Papa were with us!

Noah ended up sitting with us most of the time, but he really liked the movie. We said our goodbyes to our Thanksgiving partners in crime, and went home for homemade peach cobbler! Yum! Another non-traditional, but this one worked.

The next day, Deb and I shopped till we dropped, while Steve traveled north to see his mom. He brought back this tractor, and Noah has talked about it since.

Weekend with Friends, Part 2

Saylah and Noah looking anxiously for the tractor that will take us to the Eckert's Pumpkin Patch!

We went with friends, Alejandro, Sandra and Saylah to pick pumpkins.

These two ran around the pumpkin patch like it was the most fun thing on earth! They were hilarious. Noah tried to pick up pumkins, and he would say, "it's heavy," and he would always draw out the word "h-e-a-v-y." So funny! Miss Saylah followed him everywhere and mimiced everything he did. He's not always the best example, so I began to get a little nervous when he darted out into an empty and immense corn field. Matt had to chase him down, and luckily Saylah was wise enough to know that she probably shouldn't follow him this time!

Fast boy, faster daddy, and smart chica!

After the pumpkin picking (we actually didn't get one, as I had already purchased two of them!), we headed to the fun farm. Our kiddies were still a little small for many of the activities, but they still had a good time.

After the fun farm, we had lunch and walked through the farm grocery store. Saylah pushed around her own cart in the store.

Great Sunday morning with our friends! Nothing more "fallish" than going to the pumpkin patch!

They Came, They Came!

My only brother Ben and now sister-in-law, Marsa` visited us in St. Louis for Thanksgiving this year! It was lovely to have them and to see them with Noah. Last year when we were together, he was just an infant...not even rolling over yet, and now he's a little crazy person, running everywhere, smashing food all over his face, and just in general being an extreme delight or an extreme basket case. Marsa` seems to be a natural with him...she put blocks on her head, played with him on the playground, and made funny faces at him, while Ben read to him, got him up from one of his naps, and even put him to sleep one night. Must be a weird emotional sister thing, but seeing them with Noah makes me really happy. They even brought Noah a blue Sock Monkey. We decided now that Noah has the original, the Sock Monkey jack in the box, and now the blue one, it's officially a collection.
I loved them being here!

And of course, we can't forget the honorary uncle, Uncle Nate. He's the dude in the apron below. Ben's bestie from college, who lives in Chicago and came to St. Louis with them for the holiday. He was pretty fantastic with Noah, and he's absolutely hilarious! He was a joy to have in our home.

(mmmm...leftovers)

Pops and Grams Strike Again

For Thanksgiving, my family came to Saint Louis. I was thrilled to have them here! As usual though, when my parents are here, Noah gets a little bit spoiled...a lot spoiled. I'm actually OK with it. That's part of their job, and I love that Noah loves them, and all of their naughty activities! My dad has built Noah several things in the last year...his cradle, an airplane, a hammer, screwdriver, and saw, all out of wood from my grandmother's dining room table. So, needless to say these are treasures we plan to keep for generations to come. Although not made out of my grandmother's old table, my dad's newest gift to Noah, is this swing set. He built the frame, and then attached this amazing little Adirondack swing. We love it, and Noah really loves it. Today before my mom flew back to Florida, she pushed him for a long time. The little daredevil likes to go high. We love Pops and Grams, and we are so blessed to have them in our lives. We miss them already!

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We Have a Backyard!!!

Although good friend Shanna thinks yards are over-rated, I totally disagree! It gave me complete joy to see Noah playing in our new backyard and sitting in and throwing fall leaves for the first time. He loves the yard and cries quite hard every time we have to come inside. On this particular day, I had purchased a rake, piled up hundreds of leaves and threw Noah right in the middle of them. He wasn't really sure what was happening at first, but he quickly caught on as grams and I picked up piles and let the leaves fall over his head. He giggled and scrunched up his nose, and blinked his eyes as they fell over him.

(i was so mad that my camera cord got in front of the lens on this one. i love his expression!)

(good neighbor noah)

Little Lion

(noah is the smallest kid on the left. i've never seen so many kids eating together at a table (jenn's table to be exact!) it was pretty adorable.)

I'm behind on getting Halloween documented due to the move. This fall in general has been really busy, so I feel behind on a lot of things actually! Anyway, my little man was a lion this year, but sadly we did not make it trick or treating. It was a very chilly evening, we had just moved, and Noah was sick. We did however, make it to a downtown mom's Halloween party earlier in the week. I attempted to get some snapshots of Noah in his costume, but he wasn't in the modeling mood. So here's all I got:(trying to take off the headpiece)

(noah is avoiding the party crowd and opting to look out the window while dialing a friend)

(whiny cry face because mom won't stop taking pictures of him)

(i'm trying to restrain him from taking off the head piece)